Moles

I really like my esthetician, Isabel. She is from Colombia, she is kind and gracious, and her eyes seem lit with joy every time I see her. 

But Isabel does not like my moles. I prefer to call them beauty marks. She prefers to call them unnecessary. She wants them off my face. She says they’re not needed. All it will take is a simple procedure to remove the 16 or so moles. It will also take just $150, which I’m not in a hurry to pay. This isn’t a necessity people! It’s more of an option. I like options.

Options give you time to consider an array of opportunities. And as I’ve considered removing my beauty marks, I realize I actually don’t want to. Each one of my marks reminds me of my mother Gloria. She has very similar beauty moles on her face, closest to her high cheekbones. I got the same cheekbones too. I love my mama. And looking like her makes me feel good.

Getting rid of my beauty marks would mean, in a small way, letting go of something that connects me to my mama. I don’t want to do that. I won’t do that. Isabel may or may not understand my decision to not do the mole removal procedure. But I love my moles. I love them and they’re mine.

If you are always trying to be normal, you will never know how amazing you can be.”                                   – Maya Angelou

Self Realization

There are moments when you look at your body in the mirror and you say:

Hey, I look different.

It’s a moment when your head self connects with your eye self and everything changes. Something happens inside your soul and you recognize:

This is who I am and I am grateful for the me I am.

I am grateful for the me I am becoming.

I am grateful for the me I used to be, because she taught me things I needed to know, I needed to learn so I could grow

Two weeks ago such a moment happened to me. Got dressed for work and decided to put on a new top and some basic black capris pants and get things moving. Clothes fit great. My natural hair was on fleek. I felt really good. I happened to glance in the mirror as I tied my shirt and I saw someone I knew and thought was really beautiful: Me.

 

I knew in my gut this was a moment to capture in a photo because I needed to see myself the way I truly was, not how I thought I was or who I thought I looked like in my mind. I’m engaged in a fitness and health journey that’s now six years in the making and over that time I’ve seen my body change, get stronger, and get leaner. But sometimes I still see the girl who was very much overweight and unhealthy. Photos gently remind me that girl isn’t here anymore.

I pulled out my phone, snapped a shot and did what all social media enthusiasts do: I posted it on my Instagram, Twitter and Facebook accounts. Stellar social media woman I am.

In life we have the gift of living as our true authentic and beautiful selves. Living means we show up to our lives and we commit to being in them all the way.

Being true means we see the beauty in us and the deficits. We choose to grow and pursue healing and freedom so we can get the most mileage out of these bodies, these gifts and these snazzy personalities that have intentionally been placed in us.

Being authentic means we don’t hide. We don’t hide from who we are. We don’t hide from who we used to be. We choose to be real over being fake and we choose to live instead of almost living. We invite people into the gift of who we are authentically, intentionally and honestly so that incredible friendships and relationships can blossom out of us.

Being beautiful means we see ourselves for ourselves. Who we are right now, this minute, right here. Beauty isn’t perfection or the lack a little jiggle here and there. Beauty starts in the innermost, deepest parts of who we are and infiltrates out through our eyes, smiles, laughter, voices, personalities and so much more until the inner weaves itself indelibly to the outer.

The world often says the outer parts of people are beautiful. I believe that outer starts with the inner. That’s where the true roots for beauty lie, in the soul.

How do you see yourself?

How do you feel about living authentically?

What’s in your soul? Does beauty have a home there?